Video Review: With the LaCrosse, Buick Continues to Pamper

The latest generation of this luxurious sedan, wearing the new face of Buick, is very comfortable in its role of being, well, very comfortable.Published OnDec. 8, 2016CreditImage by Martin Campbell

By Tom Voelk

Dec. 8, 2016

I RECENTLY reviewed the Porsche 718 Cayman S, a brilliant machine that taps directly into a driver’s synapses. It is the kind of car that automotive writers love to embrace.

It’s a pity owners seldom get to use its potential.

Our streets and highways are often choked with traffic. We might dream of unleashing exotic cars on winding mountain roads. But in reality, dodging potholes on bumper-to-bumper freeways is the norm.

Which leads me to the newest generation of the Buick LaCrosse. Comfortable? Its coddling suspension mercifully shrugs off frost heaves. Quiet? Superman might want to switch out the Fortress of Solitude for a LaCrosse.

“Wait. That’s a Buick?” he said when I corrected him. Perhaps he was duped by the brand’s new face with winged spires. But they emanate from a classic Buick tri-shield logo, which recently got its red, white and blue back after years of monochrome.

While our youth-obsessed culture sneers at quiet luxurious sedans, my son, who covets every supercar made, is smitten with LaCrosse’s limolike ride. It’s not the water-bed slosh found in the 1980s and ’90s. The standard suspension I drove is composed, until it’s pushed hard into a sharp corner, when it loses accuracy and adds body roll.

And yet, an upgrade path with General Motors’ HiPer Strut front suspension and adjustable dampers is but an option box away. It’s excellent. And at $1,625 with front-wheel drive or $1,300 with all-wheel motivation, it’s highly recommended.

The sophisticated predictive all-wheel-drive system on my tester offers a kind of torque vectoring by relaxing the clutch of the inside wheel when powering out of a turn. That helps to provide a more confident cornering arc than the front drive, not to mention added grip on sloppy pavement.

Powered by a 3.6-liter direct-injected V6 quietly turning out 310 horsepower and 282 pound feet of torque, the LaCrosse hustles from rest to 60 miles an hour in 6.8 seconds. The 8-speed transmission’s shifts are creamy, although its electronic controller can be vague. I wish Buick had stayed old school there. The paddle shifters are most welcome, though.

The LaCrosse has managed to lose some 300 pounds while increasing the structural rigidity of the chassis. Some of that slimming is a result of new lightweight acoustical materials that refract rather than absorb road noise. Combined with active noise cancellation, this means occupants of a LaCrosse cabin might not hear the rumbling Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat stuck in traffic alongside.

Acoustics aside, the cabin is a pleasant enough place to observe gridlock. It’s airy, even with a raised center console that swoops between driver and passenger. I had to ask Buick if the trim is real wood (it’s not). Demerits, though, for the hard plastic making up the side of the center console. The console’s top surface gets a rubberized material looking expensive to some, bland to others.

My LaCrosse Premium model is equipped with heated and vented front seats, offering the driver a massage of sorts for the lower back. General Motors does touch-screen interfaces very well, and Lacrosse’s is enhanced with Apple CarPlay.

A $1,690 package bundles semiautonomous parking, with adaptive cruise control and auto braking with pedestrian detection. With it, the crisp head-up display detects people in the distance and alerts the driver.

The rear seats have serious lounge room for family and friends, but tall passengers may yearn for extra headroom. My tester’s optional panoramic glass roof might be the culprit. Those roofs are notorious for robbing head space.

A 110-volt outlet in back will power computers that can tap LaCrosse’s built-in high-speed data hot spot. Yes, there’s a monthly fee for that. Surprisingly absent (especially on an all-wheel-drive car) are heated cushions and climate control in back.

And it is in details like that where the Lacrosse might fall down against competitors like the Hyundai Azera, Kia Cadenza, Lexus ES, Lincoln MKZ, Nissan Maxima and Toyota Avalon. There is no “bird’s-eye” view camera. The enormous trunk lacks a powered lid. Mirrors don’t autofold.

And the LaCrosse, which starts at $32,990, isn’t cheap. l My Premium model costs $48,970. Some competitors are priced low enough to fund a relaxing family vacation with the savings (though I suspect G.M.’s pricing structure leaves room for shoppers to haggle aggressively).

Few will trade in Mustang GTs for this Buick. But those who buy will be happy knowing Consumer Reports rates Buick third in reliability after Lexus and Toyota. That should help LaCrosse owners relax, especially because Corvettes and Nissan 370Zs are not moving any faster in today’s traffic.

A version of this article appears in print on , on Page B8 of the New York edition with the headline: A Pampered Place to Endure Gridlock. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe